TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --
Although having only about two weeks to practice together
before the national 2016 Amateur Softball Association Women’s Open in Oklahoma
City, head coach Niki Higgins said the job of getting the team to gel in a
short time is doable.
“It’s not too bad,” Higgins said. “The great thing is that
each ballplayer brings a set of skills with them. That’s why they were selected
for this team. So it’s tweaking some stuff to put the players in the best spots
and making sure they communicate with each other. Skill-wise, the girls are
there.”
Both the men’s and women’s All-Armed Forces softball teams
took advantage of Tinker’s softball fields last week to practice for the 2016
Amateur Softball Association Slow Pitch Championship Series Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at
the ASA Hall of Fame Complex.
Although neither team snagged a championship, players and
coaches gave a glimpse into how they’re selected from their service branches to
represent the United States military in competition.
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Schameka White is one of four members
in Blue selected for the team. She’s a top utility player on the All Air Force
team.
White played with the Air Force team last month in the
2016 Armed Forces Softball Championship at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. After
that tournament was over, designated coaches and organizers from the various
services chose up to 15 men and women all-stars for the All Armed Forces teams.
White serves regular duty as an aviation resource manager
(currently stationed in Asia), but is allowed leave for short stints to prepare
for and play softball at tournaments and events to represent the Air Force.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for esprit de corps and
morale,” White said. “There are a lot of girls here who love to show their
talent.”
White said she’s the oldest player on the team and gets
ribbed about it.
“They think of me as ancient, so you have to basically
show them that you can play and get out there and maybe they can learn from you
sometimes,” White said. “The players come from a lot of different places with a
lot of skills, so you have to be the best of the best.”
The coaching staff of the men’s All Armed Forces team is
culled this year from the Army. The All Army team has won five consecutive All
Armed Forces championships.
Head coach Maj. Ron Colombo is the chief information
officer in the Army Special Operations Aviation Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. His
team had less than a week to prepare for Oklahoma City.
“Fortunately, you don’t have to coach much here,” he said.
“These guys already know how to play and a lot of them are at this level on the
individual teams they play for. So really it’s just putting the lineup
together, getting some kind of strategy together and getting the guys to
believe in a team concept.”